Reciprocal associations between parent-child relationships and adolescent depressive symptoms: The longitudinal mediation role of insomnia and sex differences.

BACKGROUND: Although parent-child relationships and adolescent depressive symptoms have been shown to have reciprocal associations, most studies have either focused on only one parent (typically the mother) or have combined mother-child and father-child relationships into a single overall parenting score. This study aimed to examine the different reciprocal associations of father-child and mother-child relationships with adolescent depressive symptoms, and whether insomnia mediated these associations. METHOD: A total of 939 Chinese adolescents completed three surveys (baseline Mage = 13.00 ± 0.38, 63.70% boys), with two follow-up surveys conducted at six-month intervals. All participants completed self-report questionnaires on demographic variables, mother-child and father-child relationships, insomnia, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: The random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) indicated that at the within-person level, adolescents' depressive symptoms were significantly negatively associated with father-child relationships from T1 to T2 (β = -.14, p < .01) and from T2 to T3 (β = -.12, p < .01), whereas no significant associations were found with mother-child relationships. Insomnia mediated the associations between father-child and mother-child relationships and adolescents' depressive symptoms(indirect effect: father-child relationship, β = -.10, p < .001; mother-child relationship, β = -.05, p = .01). CONCLUSION: This study highlights the important role of fostering parent-child relationships in interventions for depression, while also underscoring the importance of addressing adolescent insomnia in developmental models of parent-child relationships and depressive symptoms.